George Russell believes that Mercedes managed to be "a step ahead of Ferrari" at the Australian Grand Prix as he secured an impressive podium finish.

Russell enjoyed his most successful season-opening weekend to date, finishing third in Australia, one place better than his previous best from 2022 in Bahrain.

The Brit joined McLaren's Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen on the podium, with Russell benefitting from Oscar Piastri's late spin at his home race. 

It marked a sizeable improvement for Mercedes, who, arriving in Australia, were predicted to match Ferrari on pace, but outclassed the Scuderia all weekend. 

Mercedes finished 184 points behind Ferrari in the constructors' standings last year, but Russell believes their season-opening display has them ahead at this early stage. 

"The pace of the car was kind of where we finished, really," he said. "We definitely seemed a step ahead of Ferrari but the McLarens especially seemed a big step ahead of us."

Asked later on in the post-race press conference what had been key to finishing on the podium, Russell added: "It was just staying out of trouble.

"To be honest, from the beginning, it was clear that these guys were just too quick for us and we were quicker than the Ferraris.

"So I was kind of in no man's land and I just made the decision quite early on that the best way to approach this race was just to bring it home.

"If I risked it more, there was no more reward on the table because they were just so far ahead.

"I'm very pleased to come home in P3. It was not an easy race for anyone and just keeping it on the road was a handful in itself, but I'm really happy with the podium."

A weekend of tough hours and changing weather but we stuck together

From the Track in Australia to back in the UK at Brackley and Brixworth, we couldn't think of a better group of people to do this with pic.twitter.com/81r4a9Gy1U

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 16, 2025

It was also a fantastic debut from Russell's new Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, with the teenager battling from 16th to finish fourth in the race. 

Antonelli was initially demoted to fifth after receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from the pits, promoting Williams' Alex Albon up a place. 

However, following a 'Right of Review' request by Mercedes, the penalty was later overturned, and the Italian returned to where he had finished at the Albert Park Circuit. 

"It was a really, really eventful race. We got all the possible conditions for a first race! Definitely not an easy one, but super happy," Antonelli said. 

"The team did a great job. I was happy also [with] how I managed, even though I made a couple of mistakes which cost me a bit of time, especially with the speed.

"But I have to say, the conditions were super tricky, but otherwise really happy. The team guided me really well throughout the whole race, and now [I'm] looking forward to China."